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800 Articles Strong

Today is something of a red-letter day. This is the 801st article published on this blog.

This blog, DNA-Explained, was christened on July 11, 2012 and will soon be 5 years old, as hard as that is to believe. In some ways, it feels like this blog has been around “forever” and in other ways, it feels like it’s very new, because there is always some interesting topic to write about.

Truthfully, I can’t believe I’ve written 800 articles. No wonder some of the letters are worn off of my keyboard. And it’s my second keyboard!

My original goal was one article per week, which would have been about 235 articles by now. I wasn’t sure I could accomplish that. It’s amazing what inspiration can do! I love genetic genealogy every bit as much today as I did then, if not more. What an incredibly exciting time to be alive with an unbelievable opportunity to participate in an unfolding field with new discoveries being made on an almost daily basis.

I had been considering a DNA blog when Spencer Wells, then Scientist in Residence at the National Geographic Society, suggested that I SHOULD author a blog. That encouragement was all it took to motivate me. Thanks so much Spencer for that final nudge!!!

I started writing articles in self-defense, truthfully, because I was receiving the same questions over and over again. I figured if I could write the answer once, I could then just point the next person with that same question to an answer that included graphics and illustrations and was a much better answer than I could provide in an e-mail.

Plus, repetitively recreating the same answer was a time-waster – and blogging to share publicly with the goal of helping lots of people learn seemed the perfect solution.

I had no idea, and I mean none, that DNA testing in the direct to consumer marketplace would explode like it has. I’m glad I started writing when I did, because there are ever-more people asking questions. That’s a good thing, because it means people are testing and learning what messages their DNA has for them.

Our DNA is the most personal record of our ancestors that we’ll ever have – and today more and more tools exist to interpret what those ancestors are telling us. We are still panning for gold on the frontier of science although we know infinitely more than we did a decade or 5 years ago, and we know less than we will 5 or 10 years from now. We are still learning every single day. That’s what makes this field so exciting, and infinitely personal.

Here’s part of what I said in my introductory article:

Genetic genealogy is a world full of promise, but it changes rapidly and can be confusing. People need to understand how to use the numerous tools available to us to unravel our ancestral history.

People also love to share stories. We become inspired by the successes of others, and ideas are often forthcoming that we would not have otherwise thought of.

In light of that, I’ve tried to include a wide variety of articles at every level so that there is something for everyone. I hope I’ve managed to make genetics interesting and shared some of my enthusiasm with you over the years.

In Celebration

To celebrate this 800 article-versary, I’m going to share a few things.

Article organization and how to find what you want

The 10 most popular articles of those 800

Two things people can do to help themselves

Articles I wish people would read

Questions asked most frequently

Then, I’m going to ask you what you’d like for me to write about in the future.

Articles Organization aka How To Find What You Want

Blogs allow you to group articles by both categories and tags, two ways of organizing your articles so that people and search engines can find them.

Each article is identified by categories. You can click on any of the categories, below, to see which articles fall into that category. These are also some of the keywords for the blog search feature.

Before asking a question, I wish people would try searching my blog for the answer. Using the search box in the upper right hand corner, the blog is fully key word searchable.

Furthermore, even if you can’t figure out the right key word to search, you can also find articles on my blog by searching for phrases using google.

2. Upload GEDCOM files.

Your DNA testing is only as good as the comparisons you can make, and the ancestors and ancestral links you can find. Please, please, PLEASE upload GEDCOM files to Family Tree DNA and GedMatch. If you don’t have a tree, you can create one at Family Tree DNA. Link your tree to your DNA results on Ancestry and share your results. 23andMe has no tree ability at this time.

The Articles I Wish People Would Read

In addition to some of the articles already listed in the top 10, I wish people would read:

DNA IS overwhelming. I keep getting lost. I’ve only been reading your articles for a week or two and you have cleared up several issues. I almost wish your blog wasn’t quite so long, as I want to print different ones out so that I can read them comfortably (also I am now a senior and don’t like to sit at the computer that long). I am going to contact (and pay) you later this year for your expertise in understanding either my or my brother’s dna. It depends on which side of the family I am more ‘stuck’ on.
So I keep trying and reading. Thank you for the guidance.

We are truly the ones that are blessed to have someone that cares so much about the same things as we do and then to write about them in such a way that not only is our knowledge and understanding increased, but we look for each new blog subject with great anticipation. Kudos to you!

I’ve been really glad to have found your blog as this type of sleuthing is right up my alley. I just need to learn how to use the tools and methods so I can get into the nuts and bolts of it. Once I get my aunt and uncle to complete their test (bought through the help of your FTDNA sale coordination BTW), I think I’ll have a pretty good base of tests to start to put the methods to practice.

I look forward to continuing to learn about this genealogical DNA field and again thank you for putting this information out there for the rest of us

Roberta, Your blog is always fascinating, no matter your topic. The depth of your knowledge seems infinite and your dedication is remarkable. Words are not enough to express my gratitude at how much help your blog has been in my ancestral search. I’ve been doing genealogy since 1971 (okay, so I’m no a Spring chicken – LOL) and genetic genealogy has allowed me to leap brick walls I thought I’d look at until I *joined* my ancestors. Thank you so much!

Dear Roberta, Thanks for all your hard work. I am a ”intelligent” ignoramus when it comes to the DNA stuff. I have a Phd +++ other degrees but have a very poor science-maths type brain and find it quit difficult to understand the simplest things in translating my autosomal DNA and my brothers Y-DNA on Family Tree results into anything meaningful. I have a fairly solid family tree on paper (ancestry) and all I have done is to put an ** after a person’s name if I have a match with a common ancestor from someone else’s DNA match. Rightly or wrongly I have assumed that this means that my tree must be ‘right’ back to that common ancestor. Is is a correct assumption? I have no idea what to do with all the rest. I have also the Y-DNA from my brother and the number of matches seems exponential. In your post today you asked what we the blog-ees would like to see. I would like fewer words and detailed explanations and more simple dot points to achieve an objective e.g. If you are using ancestry and you want to xyz here is what to do? 1. Click on the DNA tab at the top. 2. 3. etc. I find it really annoying that I do not know which matches I have investigated as they do not seem to have any indicator. Thanks for your consideration. Regards

For some, anything to do with genealogy just bores them to tears. It’s just not their cup of tea. Your blog gives many of us a place to share thoughts with others that share the same interests. I’m grateful you’ve provided a platform for many family genealogists that crave an audience that understands and appreciates this hobby.

I would appreciate reviews of any of the television programs or news stories that mention genetic genealogy.

Thank you so much for all your information, which you’ve shared with us not blessed with a scientific bent. I’m so glad I found your blog early in my DNA journey and I’ve recommended it to so many others since then. Please keep up your good work. You are greatly appreciated!

Topics I’d like to see you write on (or refer to a more knowledgeable source):
Relative rates of DNA testing in foreign countries
How to find crossovers
The probability that a segment shared with a known relative is all from the same parent of that relative (and is it different for cousins vs. aunts/uncles?)
Keep up the good work!

It really feels like it has been around forever, as it was already there full of entries when I started to take interest in the subject.

I like the way the article written; concise, yet you take the time to explain the details properly. And with a good serving of humour to make enjoyable an essay which could otherwise be quite dry.

What would I like to read…
“What you can when you have no match”, I tested my father y-DNA lately and he has only one match, he share the same last known ancestor, but it seems he has been deceased for 8 years and it was his business email (an university teacher of Biology in Texas) and he has no tree. *sigh* I don’t have spare money right now to test anyone else. Any creative idea?

I would like a yearly update of your August 2012 article “The DNA Pedigree Chart – Mining for Ancestors”.

I simply meant you just redo the table, how many ancestor identified, what percentage IDed, How many you know the DNA signature, then percentage. Feel free to add more as you see fit. I want to see how you progress on this front.

In your case, since you know who the match is (or was), I’d find his obituary and online information about him to find his parents. Then, start working the census and Ancestry trees and work his ancestry backwards on his paternal line. Generally the hard part is figuring out who they are, and in your case, that’s already done!

I’m stuck with his father, he had a quite common name and although I have his birth date, I don’t know where it was. It could be anywhere in Canada or United States and I found quite a few possible candidate. I need to find my match’s parents together in an obituary or a marriage act, with their parents names also, so I could then find the right family in the censuses. -__-

…

OK, forget about it, I think I found him! In the same town where he was buried! I overlooked it because the son wasn’t on the same page as the father (who share the same given name), so I though the he was too old. Maybe I was sleep deprived when I looked this up…

Things went much more nicely than expected, I’m already at my match’s 9x great-grand-father. o.O

Although I need to better document the generation which move from Canada to United States to make sure I’m not making mistake. On the down side, our line meet sooner than hoped (hence how I can make the tree this fast).

Congratulations Roberta! Spencer Wells has been a Hero of mine for about 10 years…and now you are a Heroine of mine! 800 articles…wow! to the best of my knowledge, you have done more work translating genealogy&DNA into plain English than anywone else I know. Thank you for your great work! Georgeann in MX